The Assassin Drone, Part 15

Lucas' mobile telephone rang, and he clicked it on, then snarled, "What!"

"And good morning to you, too." It was one of the desk workers from Section D. "I've got a message to pass on to you from Olivia Stephens."

"Go on," Lucas said, moderating his voice slightly.

"She asks if you still have her car keys and can you bring them over as soon as possible. Apparently she lost the spare key a long time ago."

"Yeah, I've got them. I'm on my way," Lucas said, and hung up. He had to go home first, to get the stuffed turtle, and the journey across the city gave him enough time to master his anger, or at least lock it away. His private life had nothing to do with Olivia or Owen, and they shouldn't have to suffer because of it. By the time he reached their street in Acton, he was almost completely back in Scott Fenton mode again.

When he rang the bell, he could hear running footsteps inside the house, and then the door was flung open to reveal Owen. "Hallo, Uncle Scott! Have you got the keys?"

Coming up behind him, Olivia didn't look at Lucas as she said, "Owen, I've told you, it's not Uncle Scott. He was just pretending to be Uncle Scott to catch the bad men."

"Well, have you got the keys?" Owen demanded, and Lucas, who had been hiding the stuffed turtle behind his sling, pulled it out.

"Yes, I do, but I wanted to give this back first and say thank you."

"Speedy!" Owen cried, ripping it out of his hand and squeezing it tightly. "He can come with me! Thanks for bringing him back, Uncle Scott!"

Olivia sighed. Lucas fished everything out of his pocket and extended it to her. "Here you are; house keys, car keys, and, uh, my keys, too."

Reaching over Owen's shoulder, Olivia picked out what was hers. "Thank you," she said, turning red and glancing away as her fingers touched his hand. Her self-consciousness was contagious, reminding Lucas of her horror and his embarrassment when she'd seen the really bad scars on his back. As he so often did while on assignment, however, he squashed his true feelings as soon as they came up. "Did you get everything else back then, last night?"

"Yes," Olivia replied, still not looking at him. "Chris brought everything to the cemetary for us, and then he drove us home, too."

"Even your jewelry?" Lucas asked, making a gesture at his neck that Olivia didn't see. She nodded and murmured, "Mm hmm."

Then suddenly she raised her eyes to his face and blurted out, "I'm so sorry I told them you were from the government!"

"It's all right," Lucas reassured her. "You were under duress, and I would have done exactly the same if I'd been in your position."

He couldn't blame her at all; she was an engineer, not an officer at MI-5. She hadn't been trained for that kind of thing, and he'd already known she'd do anything for her son. Smiling to show her she was forgiven, Lucas watched as Olivia relaxed in obvious relief.

"Yes!" Owen's naturally cheerful face took on a slightly annoyed facet. "Mickey kept telling me we'd go, but we never did. Mum says Mickey and Kostya and the others were bad people for lying to me, but now she's going to take me, so it'll be all right."

"Well, I hope you'll have fun, but can you wait five minutes?" Lucas turned his attention back to Olivia and asked, "I think I've still got my things here?"

"Oh! Yes, of course. Come in." She motioned for Lucas to go up the stairs, and as she followed, she said, "I just moved the suitcase to one side, I didn't touch anything."

"That's fine," Lucas reassured her.

"Do you want to see what I built?" Owen asked, racing up the steps and squeezing past Lucas in his haste to get to his bedroom first.

"He seems to be taking this quite well," Lucas said over his shoulder.

"Yes," Olivia replied. "They wanted to send a psychologist around to talk to him to-day, but I said, if he has to wait one more day to go to Legoland after all those promises, then he really will be in need of professional help, and so will I! So they're going to come on Monday." She sighed a little. "But from what Owen tells me, they didn't treat him badly. They spoiled him, really; they let him watch television all day, or play on the internet, and they even got him a huge box of Lego that he didn't want to leave behind."

"And how are you holding up?" At the top of the stairs, he turned for a closer look at her face. Her hair almost hid a bandage across her forehead, and there were also a few, less serious cuts on her left cheek that had already scabbed over.

"Now that I've got Owen back, I'm fine," she said, but her smile had a slightly brittle quality to it. Lucas wondered if she'd started having nightmares already.

Owen appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, holding his huge creation. "Look! It's a space ship that goes to Mars!"

"And will there be Martians there?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, yes, lots of them! But they're friendly! They don't have guns, or lasers or anything like that. Do you know what? They have their own version of Legoland, and they call it Earthland!" Owen pointed to part of the space ship. "There's supposed to be a thing here for a telescope here, but it fell off."

"Was it blue?" Lucas asked, and when Owen nodded, he said, "Did you look under the bed?"

Owen put the space ship down to check, and Lucas slipped by him to inspect the contents of his bags. Everything was just as he'd left it yesterday, ready to go.

"Owen," Olivia said warningly, but Lucas just gave them both a smile. "Yes, I've got my things."

"So now we can go, right?"

"Now we can go," Olivia affirmed.

Owen launched himself into the air as though he were a rocket himself and thundered down the stairs.

"Don't forget, we have to get the car first!" Olivia called after him. "And you'd better go to the toilet, too!"

"Don't have to go!" Owen shouted back.

Lucas slung his carry-on bag over his good shoulder and reached for his suitcase, but Olivia grabbed it first. "Here, let me get that."

"It's all right, I can manage," Lucas said, placing his hand over hers on the handle, but then the strap of his carry-on bag slipped down his arm. Olivia raised her eyebrows and indicated his sling. "Next you're going to be all manly and tell me it's just a flesh wound, right?"

Lucas smiled at the phrase "all manly," then let go of the suitcase and offered her the carry-on. "You can take this, then."

Hanging on to the outside of the banister and swinging himself back and forth, Owen watched them come down the stairs. "Uncle Scott, have you ever been to Legoland?"

"Owen, how many times do I have to tell you, he's not Uncle Scott!" Olivia exclaimed in exasperation.

"Sorry," Owen said. "But have you ever been?"

"No, I never have," Lucas told him, thinking that he'd certainly have to go as soon as he had kids of an age to enjoy it.

"Do you want to come? Can he come with us, mum, please?"

Surprised, Lucas and Olivia glanced at each other.

Hesitantly, Olivia said, "He might not want to, Owen. You can see he's been hurt, he might want to just go home and rest."

A myriad of thoughts ran through Lucas' mind in a mere second; foremost among them were his empty flat, his fight with Lina, his jealousy of her feelings for her second husband, and a decision born of sheer contrariness, that if she could get together with someone else, then so could he. Looking directly into Olivia's eyes so that he could see her reaction, Lucas said, "Actually, I'd love to come, but –"

He hesitated ever so slightly, watching her face. If she showed any signs of rejection, he would make an excuse to leave immediately, but instead, her eyes brightened a little and her expression softened. Encouraged, he continued, "—only if it's all right with you."

"I don't mind," Olivia said, obviously trying to sound indifferent and bite back the smile that was tugging on her lips. "Funny, I've kind of got used to having you around."

Then she lowered her voice warningly and added, "But don't call me sis. Or Livvy."

"I wouldn't dare, you might hit me where it hurts," Lucas replied with a laugh, and Olivia smiled shyly, too.